


Reading Tea Leaves

by sorbriquette



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, Hilda is endlessly endeared by it, Marianne is clumsy whats new, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), and also covered in tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29000709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorbriquette/pseuds/sorbriquette
Summary: In which Hilda consults the fortune teller in Abyss about her suitors and doesn't quite get the answer she expects.
Relationships: Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Comments: 2
Kudos: 79





	Reading Tea Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Was going to give this more editing time but I couldn't sleep so oh well we go from 0 words to posting in one day now I guess, what is self control?
> 
> Inspired by that bit in cindered shadows when Hilda talks about getting the fortune teller to play matchmaker.

Hilda had been entirely serious when she’d told the professor she intended to have Abyss’s resident fortune teller unravel her romantic prospects.

As much as she loved her big brother, and oh she did, he could be more than a little overbearing. That was not exactly a secret. So, she thought it in her best interests to figure out which of her suitors was best, the sooner she could move away from Fodlan’s locket the better.

No one too impressive of course, she didn’t want her parents getting ideas. But no one so unimpressive she’d draw their criticism either.

She supposed she could date around. But that seemed like far more effort than she was interested in expending. Dating was supposed to be fun, not some kind of chore, scrutinising your partners every move. Sylvain, Dorothea, even Lorenz, she didn’t know how they did it. Granted Sylvain seemed to have fun with it, but she’d seen the way he treated those women, she really doubted he enjoyed it as much as he claimed.

No, this would be way easier.

The smell of herbs hit her like a wave the moment she entered. She could taste the mingling scents in her mouth even whilst it wasn’t open. She had her fair share of perfumes but this smelt more like something her mother or even grandmother would wear, but far more permeating. It would take hours to get it out of her clothes.

“Sit, child.” The fortune teller said in what Hilda assumed was her breathiest most mystical voice.

Hilda let an easy smile light up her face, “Okay, thank you.” She settled into the plush chair opposite the woman, folding her hands in her lap.

“Tea?” The woman asked with a kindly smile the somehow still unsettled Hilda.

“I’d love some.”

She was almost impressed as the tea was poured, what she thought was a gentle floral fragrance of an Albinean Berry Blend, but the colour betrayed it and after a few moments the scent became less sweet. A Dagdan Fruit Blend.

Not her preference, certainly, too strong for her tastes. Though she knew Marianne quite liked it, they’d shared a pot more than once after stable duty.

So much for the fortune teller predicting her favourite teas.

Regardless, Hilda kept her smile, “thank you so much.”

“Of course, my dear,” the woman poured a cup for herself before putting the tea set aside. She levelled her gaze at Hilda over the top of the crystal ball. “Now, what can I do for you?”

“You’re the fortune teller, you tell me,” Hilda said with the sweet kind of smile she usually employed to let people know she was joking.

The fortune teller’s lip did little more than curl at the edge, “Love? Though I hardly need a crystal ball for that, most young women who come to me ask after that.”

Hilda was not sure if she asked out of genuine curiosity or merely politeness, she supposed she would decide after she heard the answer. “What else do people come to you for?”

“Oh, many things,” the woman waved her hand, somehow ushering more of that overpowering herbal smoke towards Hilda. “Money, friendship, a few are terribly concerned about their grades. One young man asked me to predict a weeks’ worth of the menu for the dining hall.”

Hilda figured she could probably guess who that last one was.

“But we are here about you, dear child, what is it you want to know? I cannot ask the universe unless you tell me the question.”

Hilda thought for a moment before settling on a question, “which of my suitors should I choose?”

The woman nodded before looking into her crystal ball for a moment.

Hilda wasn’t sure what she’d expected it to look like. But it was not for the ball to begin glowing and the multicoloured dust inside to swirl about.

“Whoa.” Quietly escaped her agape lips before she even realised, she was speaking.

If the woman across from her noticed, she said nothing.

A few moments pass before the woman looks back to Hilda, a frown creasing her brow ever so slightly.

Well, that was not a good sign.

“It appears to me, that you have already chosen.”

“What?” Hilda felt her jaw drop again, this time quickly righting it. “I mean, I don’t think so.”

Had she already chosen? Could the woman be referring to her loyalty to Claude? Hilda was sure her feelings for their house leader were nothing other than platonic, if accompanied more respect than she afforded most people.

Surely that could not be it.

“Who have I chosen then?” Hilda asked, more confused by this than she had been walking in.

Lysithea had warned her that this was likely just another fraud. But Lysithea tended to be exceedingly pessimistic about anything she perceived as ‘childish’.

The crystal ball began to glow again, this time, the fortune teller spoke as it did. “I’m seeing the colour blue.”

A blue lion then perhaps? Surely not. Felix was too abrasive. Sylvain was… something. Ashe was sweet but boring. Dedue barely spoke to her and something about Dimitri told her getting involved with him was a bad idea.

“You are tending stables.”

Sylvain then? Hilda tried to hide her grimace behind a sip of tea.

“It’s hard work, but you do it and you do not complain.”

Hilda nearly spat out her tea at that.

Okay Lysithea had been right, the woman was obviously a hack.

“You take on more than your fair share, and you do not mind. You do it gladly.”

Hilda resisted the urge to scoff, simply finishing the last of her tea.

The ball stopped glowing just as Hilda was trying to come up with an excuse to leave. The woman looking up at her. “Does that answer your question?”

“Oh yes, definitely, thank you so much,” Hilda said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “In fact, I think I should go find him right now.” She stood, quickly depositing some gold onto the table.

The fortune teller raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing her.

Hilda did not stick around to find out what she would say about it. Fleeing the room with a wave and a “thank you!”

* * *

“I’m sorry, Hilda,” Marianne said in the wavering, meek way of her after they’d finished giving their weekly report to the professor. How they always ended up on stable duty together was beyond her. Surely it was someone else’s turn to take on some chores.

Not that she minded really. It was nice to spend some time with Marianne, and they often had tea afterwards. She might not look forward to all the physical labour, but it was worth it in the end.

“That’s okay,” Hilda said, stretching her arms above her head, which did little to relieve her aching muscles. “You make the tea today and we’ll call it even, yeah?”

Marianne smiled and gave her a small nod, “Okay.”

Warmth filled Hilda’s chest and she returned the smile with one of her own. It was so rare to see Marianne smile, she felt delighted every time she was graced with one.

It was a short walk to Marianne’s room, Hilda filling the silence by prattling on about whatever came to mind because whenever she stopped, she saw Marianne’s smile start to fade.

Still, she felt entirely too warm from all the exertion when they entered Marianne’s room. Hilda removed her boots and folded her socks down to her calves, before sitting down cross legged on Marianne’s floor.

She knew the floor was clean after all, she’d helped Marianne tidy up only a couple of days ago. Though admittedly it was not her area of expertise, Marianne’s cleaning tended to leave things in a worse state than when she started. So, it was better that she helped.

Marianne hesitated a second before removing her own shoes and shedding her jacket.

“I only have Dagdan Fruit Blend right now, is that okay?” Marianne asked softly.

“It’ll be perfect,” Hilda chirped with perhaps too much enthusiasm, and quickly distracted herself by searching her pigtails for split ends.

Though fire might not have been Marianne’s spell of choice on the battlefield, she was more than capable of conjuring enough to make tea. Even if it sometime made Hilda nervous. Though Marianne may have been something of a disaster in many areas, she was a skilled mage.

Marianne settled onto the floor across from Hilda, setting down the teapot between them.

Hilda quickly picked it up again. “Hardwood floors, Marianne.”

“Oh, sorry.” Marianne reaches across Hilda on all fours, grabbing her discarded jacket from the bed. “Here.” She spreads it out between them and Hilda places the tea pot back on top of it.

They chat idly while the tea brews. Hilda waving Marianne away when she tries to pour them both a cup and doing it herself.

“Oh hush, you made it, this is the least I can do.” Hilda explains, neglecting to mention the part where Marianne had burnt herself pouring tea last week.

“Thank you, Hilda.” Marianne gave her one of the fond, heart-melting smiles as she raised the cup to her lips. A gentle hiss escaped her as the still scalding tea touched her lips.

Hilda rolled her eyes, but her smile betrayed her affection.

She blew gently on her own tea to cool it before taking a sip.

It tasted better when Marianne made it than when the fortune teller had.

It had only been a few days ago, she’d managed to avoid Lysithea’s ‘I told you so’ thus far. She had admittedly also been avoiding Sylvain, just in case.

Though honestly, Sylvain? She would never. He simply wasn’t her type.

“Are you okay, Hilda?” Marianne asked, tugging on the pieces of hair that framed her face. “I’m sorry, I’m not very good company.”

“Marianne,” Hilda reached across the tea set between them to place her fingers under Marianne’s chin and tilt her head back up, “I mean it when I say this, there is no one I would rather be spending my time with.”

Marianne flushed a gentle pink that look so pretty against her blue hair.

Hilda smiled to herself as she loosened the piece of hair Marianne was playing with from her grasp and tucked it behind her ear.

Blue hair.

_Blue_.

Hilda felt a flush overtake her own face and sat back on her heels with more speed than she knew she was capable of.

Oh.

It made a certain sense, she supposed. They did do stable duty together and Hilda more often than not took on Marianne’s work. And really Marianne was the only person she didn’t mind working for.

She supposed she had chosen.

She really had.

“Hilda, are you okay?” Marianne reached out tentatively, letting a hand rest on Hilda’s arm.

Hilda looked up at her, her face heating further. She opened her mouth but couldn’t quite get the words out.

For a moment she reached blindly for her tea, draining her cup in one fell swoop despite the tightness in her throat. Even the hot tea felt cool compared to the rest of her in that moment.

“I’m fine,” Hilda said after a moment.

“Are you sure?” Marianne asked, eyes wide with concern and staring at Hilda more directly than she ever had before.

Hilda didn’t answer, instead she said, “You’re really pretty, you know.”

“Wh- What?” Marianne stuttered, eyes somehow widening further.

She withdrew, sitting back and letting go of Hilda. Though Hilda suspected it was due to the same shock as she had just experienced.

Hilda swallowed her nerves though the lump in her throat did not disappear. She leaned across the gap between them until her hands were resting either side of Marianne’s thighs.

“You,” Hilda spoke slowly, trying to get the point across no matter how her voice wavered, “are absolutely gorgeous.”

“Hilda,” Marianne sounded somewhere between shocked and disbelieving. “What are you…” She trailed off, seemingly unable to finish her thought.

“And you are a delight to spend time with.” Hilda continued, letting one of her hands find Marianne’s and thread her fingers through hers.

Marianne flushed further but she did not pull away. “I- Hilda, I-”

“And you are just so damn cute,” Hilda smiled, leaning closer to Marianne’s face, still resting on one hand, but perhaps all that time swinging an axe had given he impeccable balance because she had never felt more steady.

But in all her grace, Marianne chose to pull Hilda into her chest, resting her face in Hilda’s neck.

Hilda gave a squeak as she was knocked off balance and the pair of them fell backwards across the floor, Hilda landing on top of Marianne.

“Sorry,” Marianne said quickly.

Hilda laughed despite the tea soaking into her skirt, looking up to see the teapot, rolling, now handle less, across the floor.

Well, so much for the hardwood.

It took a few moments for Hilda’s laughter to die down, she took her turn to bury her face in Marianne’s neck whilst she did so.

She smelt nice. Like flowers, though Hilda couldn’t say exactly which ones. Also, a little like stable, but Hilda was sure she did too.

She vaguely heard Marianne stuttering apologies.

“Are you okay?” Hilda asked this time, pressing up off Marianne ever so slightly to look at her, “you didn’t hit your head, did you?”

Marianne shook her head silently, looking away and cringing like she was waiting for Hilda to start yelling.

Hilda simply took the opportunity to lean down and place a kiss on Marianne’s cheek, still warm and pink under her lips. “I’m glad you’re alright.” She said softly into Marianne’s ear as she pulled away.

Marianne looked back at her, swallowing.

Hilda felt a hand fall onto the back of her neck, soft and delicate, pulling her closer with equal gentleness.

If Hilda thought Marianne’s hands were soft, her lips were softer. Though Marianne didn’t seem entirely sure what to do with them. She seemed unsure whether to open or close her lips, Hilda almost thought Marianne was trying to slip her tongue into her mouth, but she seemed just to be nervously licking her lips.

Hilda couldn’t help but giggle again as she pulled away. Not mocking, just fond, endeared.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing,” Marianne said quietly, looking away again.

“It’s okay.” Hilda seized the opportunity to place another kiss on Marianne’s cheek.

Marianne did not turn back to her this time, so Hilda picked herself up and moved back, sitting on the floor beside Marianne with her hands behind her.

Marianne looked up at Hilda for a moment. “Your skirt’s covered in tea,” she said slowly, pulling herself up beside Hilda.

“So is your jacket, so I think we’re even.” Hilda looked sideways to Marianne and smiled at her.

Marianne flushed for a moment before returning Hilda’s smile, albeit shyly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Hilda said, wringing out her skirt as best she could. “Come on, let’s get this tidied up.”

“I’ll do it,” Marianne offered, getting to her feet, “it’s my fault after all.”

Hilda stood beside her, placing a hand on Marianne’s arm, “let me help, I want to.”

And she did.

And she always would.


End file.
